Alabama U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville said he hopes to meet with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa Thursday to discuss possible NIL reform measures prior to President Donald Trump’s visit to campus.
In an interview Wednesday on Tide 100.9’s “The Game with Ryan Fowler,” Tuberville said college football is currently in a “tailspin.”
Tuberville said he and Saban have talked several times about NIL reform, but blamed Democratic opposition in the Senate for a lack of progress.
“President Trump wants to help on this NIL,” he said.
“I don’t see how he can do it through an executive order, but possibly we can sit down and talk some insights about what Coach Saban thinks about it, what I think about it, and we can come up with some kind of agreement.”
Tuberville said one way the government can help is by making the NIL landscape uniform among all programs, possibly through revenue sharing. He said he does not oppose players making money.
“Everybody would be on the same level. We’ve got to come up with some rules for the transfer portal, possibly a contract for players,” he said. “We do not want to turn into minor league sports.”
In 2023, Tuberville, along with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, introduced a bill regarding Name, Image and Likeness for college athletes.
It would have required athletes to disclose how much money they make on NIL deals and restricted collectives. The bill would have kept athletes from transferring until they had completed three seasons at their original school.
If the sport isn’t reformed, Tuberville said, athletes will be incentivized to shop for the best deals each year from schools, shortchanging their educations.
“The problem we’re getting into with the transfer portal, kids transferring every year, is that nobody’s getting a degree,” he said. “I talked to (Auburn men’s basketball coach) Bruce Pearl a few weeks ago, he says it’s a disaster, absolute disaster in basketball, and I’m sure it goes over into football and some of the other sports.”
The current situation also risks souring longtime fans, he said.
”If there’s no loyalty, why should I support this person when last year he was at Ohio State, this year he’s at Alabama or Auburn, next year he’s going to be at Georgia or Florida. There’s no carryover to loyalty to schools that all these fans love to support.”
President Trump announced last week that he would be giving a commencement address to the university’s graduating class of 2025.
On Tuesday, the school announced that Trump will be joined by former Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban.
The event is scheduled to take place Thursday at the University of Alabama at 6:30 p.m. in Coleman Coliseum.
Tuberville also spoke about a possible run for the governor’s office. He said he’s been talking with his family for the last six to seven months and will probably make a decision by the end of this month.
“If I think I can help more and be an asset to the people of Alabama by moving to Montgomery and taking over the reins there, I’ll do that,” he said. “I don’t want to give up public service. I could be out making money and possibly even coaching, things like that. I want to give back to the greatest country on earth, the United States of America.”